23 wks & gorgeous weather-busying

We've really had a spectacular run of weather this past week. Today has happened to get chillier and windy, but, goodness, we've spent as much time as possible outside from last Wednesday til yesterday.

First we spent a morning in the backyard and then took a levee bike ride with Paul on his big boy bike and Ada on (now her) trike.

Then we spent a morning at the zoo til naptime.

Friday we spent a morning on the levee (doing a moms-paced walk) and then at the playground; that brings us up to 3 lunches in a row outside so far. The playground's gotten more interesting for me - it's fascinating to see Paul as a "big-boy" now that a whole group of babies has gotten mobile and wants to play, too. So, Paul's the big kid running around and dodging the toddlers, while Ada's got  one-tracked mind on the swings and as to which toys are hers.

Then we had a weekend with Papa with lots of outside time, and again to Paul's growing-up, he's helping Ada now with little tasks, like helping her get her socks and shoes off before jumping in the sandbox. Gah, it's cute! I love both that she can ask him and that he often readily does it without being asked, just because he wants her to play, too. Don't think Ada's missing out here because, boy, is she cute right now! She's such a creative player and she's speaking so well, starting to enunciate and get rid of some little baby things (yes, of course, it's still toddler-speak + a lisp!)

Then we had our "Little School Group" on Monday, focusing on the letter "R"; we learned about reptiles, glued together a rectangle collage, and had a snack of red radishes, raspberries, and rice cakes ... followed by some playground time and another picnic.

Tuesday was a crazy stormy day, but because it was so stormy, it was really interesting for the kids to see. (There were tornadoes and thunderstorms in the area, but we mostly had a couple bouts of rain and lots of wind.) Paul got a kick out of how strong the wind was blowing on the way to the chapel for Mass, and I had to carry Ada because she was a bit too light for it, ha!

That brings us to today, Wednesday, which brought us to an Early Explorers session of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for the little guys. It's generally geared towards school-aged kids' field trips, but I contacted them as an unofficial preschool/homeschool co-op thing, and they were game. It was amazing! There were two main parts: exploration and concert. During exploration, there were stations with one or two musicians, who explained a little about that instrument and played it by itself. This was wonderful because the kids could see it up close and hear it solo. We went to stations with violas, tuba, cello, and French horn. Ada said her favorite part was the cello, which is funny because the cellist was definitely not an early-educator, or an educator at all, for that matter. He spelled the composer of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" A-R-L-E-N after playing it. It was beautiful! And quirky. Then during the concert portion, Paul's favorite, the conductor was very kid-friendly, asked questions, had each of the 4 families (brass, woodwinds, percussion, strings) play 2 things by themselves and then they came all together for beautiful (short) Bach piece. One of my favorite parts was when the brass played the Olympics theme - hadn't ever heard it live! Very neat all around. (Also, the kids heard a snippet of the clarinet station, and they wanted to go sooo bad! They heard the cat from Peter & the Wolf and the intro to Rhapsody in Blue; they were in love.)

Paul and Ada were full of fish-faces one day, so I snapped one, quick, and June Bug the Bump and I enjoyed a winner of an episode of Downton Abbey - and right before the series finale. It'd been getting stale, and somehow they managed to bring it back right at the end, yesss.

22 and short-n-sweet

June bug's 'bout as big as a carrot, apparently, and I'll safely assume that goes for length only. I've been feeling a lot more lately - finally! Dylan got to feel the baby for sure last night for the first time, and Paul felt a kick this morning! That was exciting since he hadn't experienced that before ... in his memory, anyway. There are general patterns to movement; mostly when I change positions abruptly, like going from walking around to lying or sitting, I can halfway predict a movement. Generally, though, this kid's pretty chill in there. (We'll see how that plays out postpartum in about 4 months.) Here's what we look like nowadays:

The other great news this week is that Paul's skin biopsy came back clear! Praise God! We went in - this time with Ada, too - had a numbing cream, got the stitches out, and popped a band-aid on for the rest of the day. I'm thankful that it's behind him now. This called for a treat afterwards, of course. The gal at Café du Monde said, "Ooo, they'll be hyped up on sugar, for sure", looking at the tiny lollipops they had in hand in addition to what was to come. I told her we had stitches out this morning, so they can have whatever they want! For now. She laughed, agreed, and reiterated, "For now."

Other than baby kicks and clear bills of health, we're celebrating the kids' Baptism days this week. Ada's is the 16th and Paul's the 18th. So, we'll burn their baptismal candles at personalized dinners; that means home-fried chicken bites and broccoli for Ada and Papa's-crust/Mama's-sauce mushroom and olive pizza for Paul. It may be Lent and a time for simplicity, but ya gotta celebrate the things worth celebrating!

Skip on over to 21

It's later in the week for a post, and the date we have vs the one the doc has is a little different; so we'll just call it 21 weeks along for now. Ish. Speaking of dates, we've calculated June 27th, and they have a window from the 20-24th.

This was a busy week! It was Mardi Gras! And then - bam - just like that, it's Lent. Here we are, with our first Fish Fry Friday already behind us.

So, let's walk through our Mardi Gras busying for a moment, here.

We surprised ourselves with a trip Uptown for the Hermes parade Friday night. Dylan and I had hemmed and hawed for the sake of pregnancy safety (and tips from friends previously pregnant during Mardi Gras), but when Peter and his gal, Serena, mentioned a nearby house (aka: parade bathroom plan), we decided to go for it! We set up at dusk on the neutral ground near the front of the parade, which rolled at 6, had a giddy ol' time, walked the 4 blocks back to the car around 7:30, and everyone was asleep by 9. I call that a Mardi Gras win if ever there was one.

Saturday ended up being a bit more than we intended. There's a local Westbank parade to which we can walk that rolls from midday called NOMTOC (New Orleans Most Talked of Club, teehee ). And it's a relaxed, sit on the curb kind of time. Lovely. We left in time to regroup at home before leaving around 3 for Endymion, the most bright-flashy-lights-long-crowded parade there is, which rolled at 4:15. Now, the big reason we did end up going to this one despite having scratched it from the list (again, for bump safety), was that the husband and parents of a good friend, Lauren, and mom to Paul's bff, Sage, are opening a restaurant, which happens to be right on the parade route. And she had wristbands for us for this sneak-peek parade event. Anyway, we left our house in time to sit in the NOMTOC traffic leaving the Point; Dylan dropped me and the kids off when we got close-ish; he found parking and finally made it to the restaurant about 45min later; and when it was all said and done, we sat in the car for a good while before clearing the interstate on the way home. That all said and done, Endymion puts on a pretty good show =). I'm glad we didn't miss it and even got to enjoy some of the crazier bits from the comfort of a beautiful restaurant window with scrumptious food.

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday, not that we did anything specifically for that but stream it online. We relaxed in the backyard - it was a beautiful day - and Peter and Serena joined us for a crawfish boil. Always yum.

Monday was what they call Lundi Gras, and we intended to hop the ferry for a little peek at some music put on by Zulu. We headed out after naps, and I got to feeling pretty tired and winded quite quickly. We had a rest on a bench in the Quarter, took a lap around Jackson Square, and I needed another rest. It was getting too chilly and was far too windy to stay outside now that the sun was down, so we hopped into a café. By then, it's nearly 6-something, and we made it to the ferry terminal in time for them to close it for an hour for the fireworks display. Well, we got to see the fireworks, and the break didn't last nearly an hour, but we weren't home until about 7. The kids were beyond done, Dylan's having to put out scream-y fires with them, and then I slipped! Fell right on the kitchen floor! I cried, he's running between me and the 2 kids - Paul's upset about changing his bandaid, and Ada's upset because I'm crying - so he hands me a bag of frozen corn for my elbow (I landed on my side), and tends to them. All in all, it was about 5 minutes, but man when those times come, every second feels like a year; I know that feeling all too well and couldn't help but giggle as soon as the tears subsided. We all survived a rotten evening.

That brings us to Mardi Gras Day!! We woke at 7, hustled out the door with coats and sausage balls and purple, green, and gold Jell-o jigglers, and a thermos full-o-tea to catch Zulu, which rolled at 8. We were meeting that same friend, Lauren, and her family at a spot Uptown, and we found parking; all was well. It was cold & windy, but all was well. Until the makeshift dj-man behind us blasted music. Alright, pre-game show, ok, ok. No, no, he kept it going thoughout the parade. Zulu hit our location around 9, maybe? And we called it quits before 10. Seriously quits. We hated it - it was loud, the kids were crying, the wind was cold (plus we were up in that ladder!), and we just said, we'll try again next year. We hadn't even met up with our friends. While walking back to the car, we had a bit of breathing room, felt the warmth of the sun, and said, hang on - let's just walk up a bit and catch Rex, at least. Aaaah, big sigh. (I actually just sighed while writing that, remembering.) Apparently we're not crowd-y people anymore, not with the littles in tow. We found a patch of sun on the sidewalk, perched, ate our goodies that were supposed to be for the friend potluck, and had the best time watching Rex. We're "traddies" I think ;) (traditionalists) because we love the class, if the term can be applied to anything carnival at all, that is Rex. He's the King of Carnival, after all. It finished around 1:30 or so, we had zero traffic coming home, and the kids were asleep shortly after 2. Rex redeemed the day! Hooray!

T reads: "Caution: Baby Inside"

Purple, green, and gold Jell-O jigglers

 

And now it's Lent. Phew. Never have I yearned for Lent the way I do now that I live in New Orleans, ie celebrate Mardi Gras for real, for real. I've already, in three days, felt such peace and simplicity. With the exception of the kids' wanting to "play parade" every morning with the heaps of beads in the living room. Of course. It's like anything else we teach them - they don't really get the anticipation side of things, but, man, once the event comes and goes, they love it and want to keep it going. Tis why Ada's been singing "Gloo-oooo-oooo-oooo-ria" since Christmas Day. They'll be playing "Throw me something, Mister" til Easter. In fact, now that things are simple and decorated in purple, clever little Adeline started singing "O Come, O Come, Emmanual" ... because it looks like Advent! It does, little miss!

The feast day for Our Lady of Lourdes was Thursday, too. While this isn't a feast day I regularly have on the calendar to honor, we've been asking her to intercede on a few friends' behalves as she's the patroness of the sick. We've been praying the prayer that came with the little doll and card (see previous post) for, as Paul says everynight, Baby Drew, Baby Calen, Mr. Dan, and the sick children (who draw for MD Anderson). Very special.

And a little randomness with the wee ones:

Here, we painted bread with colored milk before toasting it, when the colors pop! Paul's a grumpy post-napper, though, so he didn't want to show off his edible artwork. Shoutout to Mom for the snack craft ;) She did this with us when we were little.

Tree-trimming out front

19 wks & a little glimpse

The big June Bug news this week is that we got to SEE the lil bug ... on the screen, that is. It was a family affair, and while Ada kept saying "Beebee Dune Buck" on repeat, Paul grinned and waved at the screen. They were both pretty sweet - and very well-behaved - throughout the 2 hour hospital visit! We had the ultrasound, check-up with Dr. Nobles (wherein I asked about his concerns about Zika virus and was met with eye rolls, sighs, and grins), and then a tour of East Jefferson's labor & delivery wing.

Since we're practically halfway, Dylan and I wanted to ask questions today that would help us decide if we were going to stay here with Dr. Nobles at East Jeff or shop around; we'd questioned it only because we chose him for his moral stand without knowing what his delivery process is - whether he delivers his patients' babies or not, what his rules are, etc - and had heard the terrible description of East Jeff as having "separate labor and delivery rooms + sneer". We were a little wary, so we wanted to find out today. We were pleasantly surprised with it all, from Dr. Nobles flexibility to the hospital rooms. I'll quote Dr. Nobles as saying, "You can do it hangin' upside down if you're comfortable, as long as everybody's safe". 'Nuff said. And I'm not interested in revealing how primitive I guess I thought it would be having multiple rooms, but it's all nicely done; there are as many options and amenities as I had with Paul's birth (which was wonderful), and many more than I had with Ada's (which was mainstream-y pushy hospital that I fought). There's one room for delivering and another a few hours later for the 2 night stay. Oooh, I'm fine with that. I'm of the opinion that if a woman wants her birth to feel home-y and cozy without all the medical "things" nearby, she may want to consider a homebirth; I like being in close proximity to said medical things should something go wrong. Plus I like old, seasoned OBs. Moving on.

The ultrasound technician seemed to think we have a laid-back baby on our hands, to which Dylan and I both laughed and said that'd be welcome after our nutso, keeps-us-on-our-toes Adeline. She said she swears personality traits start to show even in the womb, and our little bug was pretty chill. As soon as I laid back, there was constant swimming but no big kicks worthy of a feel, and once s/he found a sweet spot to nuzzle in, s/he just stayed there! The technician even held the wand for nearly 2 minutes waiting to see if we could see and feel a kick simultaneously, and there was nothing, save a fist to mouth, a moving mouth, and that little flickering 4-chambered spot. Pretty funny to contemplate, really. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce our beloved Baby June Bug:

Les penseurs

The last 7 days since posting have seen a bit of action:

• There was Australia Day, for which the kids dressed, and we had a special Aussie meat pie.

• There was 2 & 4 year old doctor visit day, which we celebrated with vaccinations (boo) and a Wendy's lunch (yay), complete with frosty. Dr. Emily is a neighbor mom-friend with 2 boys of her own near Paul's and Ada's age, and I adore her. 
• Next up was following the chronicles of Baby Drew, Ada's junior by just 8 weeks and a family friend's son from Austin, MN. You can follow and/or support their so-far-uphill journey of battling Drew's cancer if you'd like. Here are our little ones sending prayers to Baby Doo:

Ada's holding her Our Lady of Lourdes doll & Paul the prayer that comes with it.

• We said goodbye to a neighborhood family, too, whose parting gift to Ada was this little Olaf doll, which she immediately adored:
  

• We rejoined Flubber Friday at the Mini-Art Center after a 2 month hiatus given our hectic travel and return schedules
• Then a weekend of nothing at home. For real, we actually had nothing but Mass planned for a whole weekend. This hadn't happened since the weekend before Ginny & Ryan's wedding, not even joking. So it was bliss, though we did have to opt out of a few Mardi Gras things. That will change this coming weekend...
• After Sunday Mass, we spent a lovely 70º morning at a fabulous playground; leaving saw tears from both children, of course. But remember: that means fun was had by all! And we realized that Ada's speech has just skyrocketed in what seems to be just a week. She just - bam - started pronouncing full words properly: "Nüsse" instead of "Nü Nü" for nuts and "Baden" not "Bap" for bath, among many others.
• Monday had our Little School Group's lesson on, of course, Mardi Gras! 
• And that brings us to yesterday, Tuesday. I dropped Ada off at Stacy's with Minty around 9am before taking Paul out to Kenner to the dermatologist for a biopsy on the red mole on his cheek. We'd had a dermascope (super, close-up picture) last summer and received a recommendation for a biopsy to see if the activity shown was pre-malignant or not. Well, the doctor was wonderful with him - even said "We love you here, you know" upon leaving - and I wonder if it could have been any easier; but I'll have to describe the whole thing as a little traumatic. Paul got (another) Wendy's treat lunch, some Thomas & Friends band-aids and about 10 purple suckers out of it, but he also has 2 stitches that we have to keep clean and covered for 2 weeks before we go back to get them out; and there were lots of tears and some screaming. He was not happy, I didn't enjoy it, and I pray that everything comes back clear so that the whole thing can just be a story we tell him when he's older. And, yes, I realize that this is much less severe than the Beckers' cancer-fighting story, but no one wants to see their young child scared and in pain.
  

Long one! Lots to report, I guess, but I got writing in the kitchen while cooking. Some people say there's no such thing as true multi-tasking, but nothing gets me focused more on doing things quickly than trying to do 2 at once.

Snuck a morning shot reading Mr. Men

4yrs, 2 yrs, & 18 wks

It was a whopper of a week prepping for our double-trouble kids' birthday bash. Since I'd only just started feeling "back", after nearly 3 weeks back in Dylan-at-work / I-at-home routine and 4 weeks in our home, it was a doozy of a week with cleaning, organizing, shopping, cooking, and preparing for family to stay. It's actually quite convenient having had both Paul and Ada on the same day. It's a very clear reason for the family to get together, and it's just one big shabang a year. We'll see how that changes with this little one come June.

So, let's recap the weekend+Monday-Birthday with a few photos

First thing on Saturday-Birthday-Party-Day-Morning, even before crêpes for breakfast.

Reading about piñatas with Paul's 4 friends and Ada's 2 (baby) friends before we slam into one! Then this little lady anxiously awaiting her taco.

Paul requested a "P" cake, white with chocolate icing and sprinkles. Done. Papa was the genius who decided to make an angel food cake - because, c'mon, plain white cake tastes like nothing - and it was delicious. Serious fluffy, spongey, slightly lemony goodness with a buttercream frosting. And he baked enough bits and pieces to put together each kid's initial. {love} All but about an inch of the "A" was eaten, so I think I'm not alone in praising its yuminess. 

Post-party naps

Next day shenanigans with Nana, Pappy, Tante Ginny, & Uncle Ryan. We went to Mass at the Catholic Church, then crossed the street to the Lutheran church ... which was having its King Cake Kick-off with hot dogs & beer & Benny Grunch & the Bunch. Chilly, but fun.

And now we move on to the actual day, January 25th. Dylan hung around and went into work a little late so he could have a long, nice breakfast with his kiddos. They opened our pressies and pressies from Oz (Mr. Men books!), and then we had a lovely, playful morning with a couple of friends. Paul requested that he stay in pajamas all day, and Ada wanted to be naked, ie with just her diaper. Her giraffe diaper(cover). Done. Except at mealtimes, Little Miss ;).

Birthday lunch ... sharing the Special Day plate ;)

Ice cream cones for 2 & 4! Paul gets it a bit more, so he ate his fill quickly, but Ada took the t i n i e s t little licks, whined when it dripped, and screamed if we "helped" (by nibbling...). But she enjoyed the licks she had, so that's good. Also, she figured out the candle-blowing once Paul was successful with his. What else are big siblings for but to show you how to do awesome stuff?

I think they had a great celebration. I had a great celebration of them, and Dylan and I are so grateful for them, the little monkeys. Best ideas yet.

Ready to join us in a bit, here, June Bug?? Here's this one at 18wks and roughly the size of a bell pepper, which can come in a variety of sizes...